Among the questions to be considered was whether he should report the phone call to DI Trent immediately, but he needed to assess the situation first. It wouldn’t be the first time Alex had overreacted to a simple situation.
Things hadn’t been right with her since the miscarriage, and he’d urged her to see a counsellor after the loss. She’d assured him she didn’t need it, and had focused her attention on Carol-Anne and then hunting for a new job. But she’d been on edge, flying off the handle at the littlest of irritations, constantly lethargic. And then two weeks after it happened, he’d found her in what would have been the nursery holding a knife. She insisted she’d been washing up and had become distracted by the sound of crying, which is why she’d climbed the stairs. Thankfully, Carol-Anne had been with him at the shop, and was oblivious to her mother’s delicate state of mind.
Then there was what had happened in Manchester with the girl at the park. He’d insisted on counselling after that, and she’d had no choice but to go, though he couldn’t remember the last time she’d talked about her progress, or even the last time he’d seen her take the medication the GP had prescribed.
Calling to tell him someone had taken Carol-Anne: could her mind have finally snapped? Alex was many things, but could she really have done something to put their daughter’s life in danger? Ray desperately hoped he was misjudging his wife, although only time would tell.
‘Where are we headed?’ Owen asked as he started the engine.
‘The car park off Woodside Road, down from the Civic Centre.’
‘I know the place. Belt up.’ Owen nodded, engaging the lights built in to the grill. ‘What else did Alex tell you?’
Ray tried to recall the conversation. Usually his memory was good; however a flurry of questions interrupted every time he tried to hear Alex’s words again. ‘She was going to town for an interview. She was supposed to be dropping our daughter at a crèche, heading to the Civic Centre for the interview, picking up Carol-Anne and then coming home.’
‘What time was the interview?’
‘At three, I think.’
Owen noted the time on the dashboard display. ‘Well she either didn’t make it, or it was the shortest interview in history. Do you think someone took your daughter from the crèche? I mean, do you think it could be a simple mix-up? Like the supervisors gave the wrong child to the wrong mother?’
Ray could only hope it was that simple, but the anxiety in Alex’s voice had suggested something far worse had happened.
‘Either way,’ Owen concluded, ‘we should probably call it in. You know how vital the first hours are in abduction cases. At the very least, we should see if there are any units in the area. If someone has snatched your daughter, we should get a description out there as soon as possible.’
Owen put the radio to his mouth and called it in, requesting backup at the car park.
‘I really appreciate your support,’ Ray said when the radio quietened.
‘Listen, mate, you don’t need to say thank you. You know we take care of our own. And if some nutcase has snatched your daughter, we’ll do everything to get her back.’
Ray appreciated the sentiment, even if it was scant consolation. He couldn’t stop picturing a future where a tiny coffin was lowered into the ground, and it was all he could do not to break down.
The patrol car was first on the scene, swiftly followed by Owen and Ray, with a third joining moments later.
‘Do you see Alex?’ Owen asked, scanning the immediate vicinity.
Ray couldn’t, at first, surprised at how busy the car park was. ‘There’s her car,’ he said, recognizing the registration number and pointing at the hatchback.
Owen brought the car to a halt immediately in front of Alex’s, and the two of them jumped out. Noticing that Alex wasn’t behind the wheel, he pulled out his phone and called her, and she was soon running over to them, throwing her arms around his neck.
‘Oh, Ray, thank God, I only looked away for a moment, and …’
Ray wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her still for a moment, knowing that he needed to be pragmatic. Now wasn’t the time for emotion. ‘Tell me what happened.’
Alex steadied herself before recounting the story, retracing her steps, explaining her actions throughout. ‘I couldn’t have been looking away for anything more than twenty to thirty seconds, I swear to you.’
Owen was examining the door handle, shining his phone’s torch on it, looking for any obvious fingerprints or smudges. ‘And you said the car was locked?’
‘Yes. The alarm sounded while I was at the machine, but I couldn’t see anyone, and assumed it was Carol-Anne moving about that had caused it.’
Ray remained standing in front of the car, scouring the horizon for potential security cameras that might have captured what had happened, only spotting one some distance behind the car park.
For the first time his blood ran cold. His little girl – his bundle and joy – was out there alone and needed him more than ever.
Ray called Owen over as his training kicked in. ‘Do me a favour: get Alex out of this rain; put her in the back of our car and take her to get a cup of tea or something, will you? There will be a mountain of questions to scale, and she needs to be calm and rational.’
Owen nodded and moved over to Alex. She looked at Ray as Owen spoke to her, and he gave her a nod to confirm she should go with Owen. Waiting until the car had pulled away, he instructed the uniforms to set up a perimeter, preventing access to the car park, and to take the names and identification of anyone returning to collect their vehicle. And then with trembling fingers, he searched for Trent’s number, placing the phone to his ear.
In the back of the police car, Alex was helpless as she watched the scene around her unfolding.
‘You’d be better off waiting at home,’ Ray had said after Owen had brought her back from the drive-thru. ‘I promise I’ll phone as soon as we know more.’
How could she return home and pretend that everything was normal? What did he expect her to do: make the dinner like usual? She had no idea of the time, but as the darkness was drawing closer, it had to be gone six. Where had the time gone?
As she watched technicians in protective paper suits carefully examining the ground in and around her car, none of it felt real. Her nails were chewed to the quick and her wrists red raw from scratching; no matter what she tried, she couldn’t wake from the nightmare.
Who would have taken Carol-Anne, and why? She could understand an opportunistic thief stealing a handbag left on a seat, or a mobile device left unattended; it wasn’t right, but she could understand the mentality. Maybe they could sell their loot to fund drugs or drink. What could someone possibly gain from taking Carol-Anne?
And how had they known where to get her from? There was no way anyone could have foreseen that Alex would be running late for the interview, that she would choose that particular parking space, or that she would be stupid enough to leave Carol-Anne unattended, while she dashed through the rain to purchase a ticket.
So, what did that leave? Some predator who just happened to be in the vicinity? It didn’t ring true. Someone sick enough to abduct a child had happened to be in the car park, near her car at the right moment? That didn’t tally in her mind.
What else did that leave?
She could see from Ray’s reaction what he was thinking. He’d hardly said more than two words